thank you. it's the top of the hour, everybody. you're watching msnbc reports with yasmin vossoughian. ♪♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. at this hour, we got new focus on the two democrats smack dab in the center of the effort to limit the reconciliation bill, senator joe manchin accusing colleague bernie sanders of crossing the line in his efforts, even while manchin appears to be poised to scrap a key part of president biden's climate agenda. this as senator kyrsten sinema facing increasing backlash over her fund-raising during the reconciliation talks and even a call from one columnist to leave the democratic party. in a moment, i'm going to talk to congresswoman barbara lee about her favorite approach to the two senators. velvet glove or iron fist? that's the question. also coming up, the january 6th committee moving full steam ahead in their efforts to hold those involved in the capitol hill riot accountable for their actions as the president weighs into the efforts, calling for those who defy subpoenas tore prosecuted and honoring the falling capitol hill officers at a police memorial event today. >> here nine months ago, your brothers and sisters thwarted an unconstitutional and fundamentally un-american attack on a nation's values and our votes. but because of you, democracy survived. but only because of the women and men in the u.s. capitol police force, the washington, d.c., metropolitan police department and other law enforcement agencies who once again literally put their bodies on the line. to protect our democracy. >> plus it's down to the wire in the virginia governor's race, one side trying to motivate voters with fears of trump and the other with fears of teachers and school boards. and an economic reckoning strikes across the country. millions quitting their jobs. "new york times" columnist paul krugman calls it the revolt of the american worker. i'm going to talk to him about his provocative piece. all of that and the fallout for a netflix continues over its handling of a controversy involving dave chappelle and the trans community. the company providing a lesson in how not to handle a crisis. we're going to have that later on this hour. but we want to begin with intraparty fighting between democrats over the reconciliation bill, a battle that is shaping up to be two against just about everyone else in the party. two moderates, joe manchin, kyrsten sinema, who have made negotiations for the social spending bill increasingly difficult in their own ways. sources telling nbc news that manchin's opposition to the clean energy program means it will likely be dropped from the democrats' spending bill, the $150 billion program is the most sweeping climate measure in the bill, aiming to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. and while sinema has been objecting to parts of the bill like prescription drug pricing proposals and certain proposed tax increases, political reports that her campaign received, quote, $27,800 from pacs of pharmaceutical companies from july through september. let's talk about this. democratic congresswoman barbara lee of california, also a member of the appropriations and budget committees, joining me now. congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us on this. really appreciate it. two names that i mentioned that entire lead-in to you was senator joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. names that have been used and heard a lot over the last couple of days, and it really does seem like it's two against the rest of the democratic party as we well know by now, the president siding with the progressives so far. what do you make of their influence on the reconciliation negotiations and this plan to possibly drop the clean energy program? how significant of a loss will that be? >> well, thank you very much, yasmin. first of all, i wouldn't say that the president is on the side of the progressives. this is the biden economic agenda that he ran on. people voted for president biden based on what we're putting forth in terms of investments in the build back better bill. having said that, we have to look at what is at stake right now. we know that the climate crisis, it's an emergency. it's upon us. you just look at the wildfires, look at hurricanes, you see how the weather is changing, the planet is getting hotter and hotter, and so we have to get this under control. we're going to continue to fight for the strongest climate provisions that we can get into this bill, recognizing that it's a negotiation. but we've got to fight for this because the planet, our people, i'm a person of faith, i believe that we have a responsibility and a duty to protect the planet and for our faith reasons as well as for the economic and our environmental positions and reasons. we know that the crisis is here. and we know that we can stop this crisis. and we know that this bill provides investments and strategies to do that, so we have to keep moving forward and fight for the strongest provisions that we can achieve in the bill. >> i want to be clear here. one of the reasons why i said what i said in which i said the president on the side of the progressives was getting in lockstep with them when it came to wanting to get infrastructure reconciliation on the same page, passing them possibly in tandem versus separately as the speaker had initially wanted to do. when that deadline came and went on september 27th. so i just want to be clear about that. senator bernie sanders wrote an op-ed -- >> that was part of the agreement -- that was -- yasmin, that was part of the agreement. >> go ahead. >> no, that was part of the agreement. remember when the senators came out after the negotiations for the infrastructure package, the agreement was that the bills would follow a certain track that we're still hopefully on. >> all right, so, senator bernie sanders wrote an op-ed in the charleston gazette mail and attacked senator joe manchin, and in it, he wrote, in which the very rich get richer while ordinary americans continue to struggle to make ends meet, in a way wanting to appeal to folks in that state. joe manchin did not take well to that. he did not take kindly to that. "the washington post" writing this. this isn't the first time an out-of-stater has tried to tell west virginians what is best for them despite having no relationship to our state. that is what joe manchin said in a tweet in response to the op-ed. obviously, sanders' approach to manchin is not necessarily working. what is the right path forward to get sinema and manchin on board when it comes to reconciliation? >> well, the path forward, i think, is exactly what we're engaged in. first of all, we have investments in our infrastructure. we have priorities in terms of making sure that no one is left behind when you look at the child care investments. we want to make sure that women especially can get back in the workforce. they cannot afford child care. we have, in our build back better bill, provisions for housing. you know, there is a housing crisis in our country. many unsheltered people. we have people who can't afford to buy a home. we have, in our build back better bill, many provisions as it relates to middle class tax cuts, ensuring that the child tax credit stays in the bill, which will help reduce significantly poverty among children. when you look at workforce development, when you look at the climate crisis, again, when you look at all of the provisions in these bills, we're negotiating right now and we're talking about why, and the american people support this, and 98% of democrats support this in our democratic caucus so this is a negotiation. no one said it was going to be easy but we're going to continue to make sure that we put these investments in this bill so that people can -- and receive them right away. people need help with their lives and their livelihoods, and they need to know that we're going to do something to help them immediately. and so, these are negotiations that are taking place. i know the public has, you know, it's hard to remember how the process works given how dictatorial donald trump was, but this is how legislation works and you're going to see different points of views but we're going to get this done. >> we'll be watching for october 31st. congresswoman barbara lee, as always, we appreciate you jumping on for us this saturday afternoon. thank you, congresswoman. i want to turn now to the january 6th investigation ahead of an expected vote tuesday on criminal contempt for steve bannon for defying a subpoena. jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the associated press and nbc political analyst, also joyce vance, professor at the university of alabama school of law and an msnbc legal analyst. jonathan lemire, i'll start with you on this one. let's talk and expand more on the vote for criminal contempt when it comes to steve bannon. what do we expect to actually go down here? >> well, certainly, yasmin, to this point, steve bannon, a former close advisor to president trump, who then fell out of his good graces and then has now re-entered trump's orbit, has shown no inclination to help this committee. he has steadfastly said he would not appear, he refused to comply with the subpoena and we're going to see the act on him to compel him to come in and short of that, they have the ability to refer that to local authorities here in the washington, d.c., and district of columbia. it could even lead to criminal charges. we'll see if that happens. that's a few steps down the road and joyce can probably lay that out better than i could but it could lead to a significant fine or one year in jail for steve bannon. now to this point, that seems to have not really deterred him. people close to him suggest he doesn't mind the idea of being viewed as a maga martyr, if you will. even if he were to be punished, there's no way to guarantee that he would testify and congress would still be left emptyhanded. there are other former white house officials, trump officials, mark meadows, kash patel, dan scavino among them who should face subpoenas and deadlines and potential trouble if they refuse to comply. and of course looming over all this is the idea, as a final point, whether former president trump himself will be subpoenaed and try to testify. certainly there's no suggestion that he would go along with that and it would set up a political fire storm on capitol hill, already a deeply divided congress with accusations of witch hunt and the like. >> i'm willing to bet a million dollars, lemire, that former president donald trump is not going to go along with a subpoena. but i'm just putting that out there. joyce vance, try to answer the question that jonathan lemire just put out there, which is, what could criminal contempt actually look like? what could that feasibly lead to and what other tools do they have in their legal belt here when it comes to steve bannon and others that choose to defy these subpoenas? >> the real problem here, and jonathan points it out, is that congress doesn't have a tool that's perfectly edged to permit it to get bannon's testimony so what they'll do is try to use the coercive power that they have in order to get as close to that as they can. everyone seems to expect at this point that on tuesday, there will be a vote from congress to refer bannon to the u.s. attorney and the district of columbia for criminal contempt proceedings. and although those charges are in the discretion of the u.s. attorney, it's up to them as to whether or not they wish to bring them and think that they have sufficient evidence and that it's in the national interest to bring those charges. it is a misdemeanor but it's an unusual one, yasmin. it carries a 30-day mandatory minimum sentence of custody up to a year and typically, for someone facing a question about whether to testify, that would be sufficient compulsion but as jonathan points out, bannon seems to almost revel in the notion of becoming a martyr and that's an additional factor that doj will have to consider in its charging decision here. >> let's talk a little bit, joyce, here, about the doj. we heard the president basically push for prosecution for any subpoena holdouts here. the doj, though, citing their independence, saying, and i quote, the department of justice will make its own independent decisions and all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law, period, full stop. how do you reconcile these two? >> well, this is a great teachable moment. after the trump era, it's really important that we have presidents who do not try in any way to influence doj when it's making a decision about whether to indict a criminal case. it's easy to understand what was animating biden's concerns here. he understands that there has to be some mechanism for congress to enforce its subpoenas or congress, in essence, becomes a toothless tiger in exercising its oversight authority, so i think this is an opportunity for him to go back and clarify what he meant and reinforce understanding in the country that decisions about prosecuting criminal cases have to be made in doj on the basis of the law and the facts and no extraneous political forces. >> jonathan, i want to play some sound from congressman adam schiff who was on with joy reid last night. >> it's very hard to see how we can get timely information to protect the country if we can't enforce our own subpoenas so i do view this as an early test of whether our democracy is recovering. >> so, this could feasibly be a test as to whether our democracy is actually recovering. i imagine he obviously is citing a post-trump era, but what does this do to the trump-backed gop with all of these kind of citations delivered to them with no follow-through? >> i think congressman schiff is right here. it's about establishing congress as, again, as a co-equal branch of government, but if it is just toothless, if there is no enforcement mechanism here, if this investigation kind of stalls, that's an issue. it's also shows, perhaps, to those in donald trump's orbit, other republicans, that they can get away with this scot-free without suffering any real consequences and we, of course, this is all happening against the backdrop of former president trump making steps to re-enter the political arena. people say it has not been decided just yet but he's leaning that way. his grip over the party is complete. there are very few republicans who dare defy him. the big lie, endorsing the big lie is almost a litmus test right now for the gop, that you have to sort of -- you have to doubt joe biden's legitimacy as president. you have to suggest that the election in 2020 was full of voter fraud, which of course we know is not true. and there are moves now to undermine the faith in the next election, 2022, and perhaps even install republicans, whether in the state legislature and secretary of state, who might not be willing to certify a vote that shows a gop candidate losing. so, that is why congressman schiff and other democrats feel like it is so urgent to go through with this, to get to the bottom of what happened on january 6th, not just to have justice in that matter, but to prevent something like this from happening again. >> jonathan lemire, joyce vance, thank you as always, my friends. appreciate it. great to see you on this saturday afternoon. coming up, everybody, workers fight back. >> our future's not for sale. our future is not for sale. >> millions across the country, they're fed up, now quitting or striking, endorsementing better wages and workplace conditions. it's what my next guest is calling the revolt of the american worker. stay tuned for that. r. stay tuned for that. ve? 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now you know. try it for free. burger... i want a sugar cookie... wait... i want a bucket of chicken... i want... ♪♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. ever wonder how san francisco became the greenest big city in america? just ask the employee owners of recology. we built the recycling system from the ground up, helping san francisco become the first city in the country to have a universal recycling and composting program for residents and businesses. but it all starts with you. let's keep making a differene together. more breaking news to report. the attorney for robert durs tells nbc news his client has tested positive for covid and he's now on a ventilator. an unprecedented labor movement in america is spreading rapidly. millions of u.s. workers are voluntarily leaving their jobs in what's being called the great resignation. we learned this week from the bureau of labor statistics that in august alone, 4.3 million americans quit their jobs. that is equivalent to the population of the state of oregon. the entire u.s. workforce decreased by nearly 3% in one month. economists and opinion columnist paul krugman wrote a piece in "the new york times" about what's driving this exodus and how it's going to impact the economy and the future of the workforce. it is called "the revolt of the american worker." paul is with me now. it's a great piece and i appreciate you jumping on for us. it's an important time to be talking about this, especially when you're looking at jobs numbers and recovery, of course, from this pandemic and it doesn't necessarily look like the job recovery is all that it was made out to be or promised to be. i thought one part of your piece that was really interesting was this. and i want to read it for folks. america's a rich country that treats many of its workers remarkably badly. wages are low, adjusted for inflation, the typical male worker earned virtually no more than his counterpart 40 years earlier. hours are long. america is a no vacation nation, offering far less time off than other advanced countries. do you feel like this is exactly why we're seeing less and less folks return to the workforce or reconsidering their careers and wanting to pivot? >> yeah. the best story we have out there is that the pandemic basically forced people off their normal routines and then a significant number of workers took a look and said, do i really want to, you know, take this lousy job back? do i want to go back to really quite poor pay, long hours, unpredictable hours? the u.s. really does treat its workers far worse than other comparably wealthy countries. we just have, you know, lousy wages, lousy work conditions, lousy hours. and now some people, you know, may in the end decide that they can't afford not to take these jobs but a fair number of people seem to have decided that sacrificing some of that income or at least stepping out, you know, not everybody who quits is becoming unemployed, is going -- is becoming idle. many people are quitting for better jobs. they're just saying that some jobs, particularly sort of jobs in leisure and hospitality, jobs in restaurants, have been so awful that people have reconsidered in the face of the dramatic events of the past year and a half and now they're mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. >> so, i want to expand a little bit on kind of the speculation that you just put out there from your piece. because i think it puts it quite well. and you say it's only speculation but it seems quite possible the pandemic by upending more americans' lives also caused some of them to reconsider their life choices. not everybody can afford to quit a hated job but a significant number of workers seem ready to take the risk, retiring early despite the monetary cost, looking for a less unpleasant job in a different industry and so on. i can't help but think, though, how are folks -- how are they affording to make these transitions? really, to make ends meet, i should say, especially when, you know, enhanced unemployment has dried up, all but dried up. unemployment benefits, all but dried up so these folks are really having to pivot, to change, to not return, possibly with nothing else at the other end of the rainbow. >> enhanced unemployment benefits mean a lot of people on the right were claiming that was the reason that workers were lazy because they were getting all these unemployment benefits and now we know the benefits were taken away in many states back in june and taken away nationally last month and people have not gone back to work. so, it wasn't that. the best we can tell, it's a mix of things. some people are -- people are taking social security early. you can -- at a penalty, but you can retire as early as 62 on social security and some people are saying, okay. i don't want to do that because really, it's worth it to me not to be doing this. some people have taken a look, basically, at what they were having to spend to work at the cost of child care, at the cost of commuting, and realize that the job wasn't really worth all that much money, and people are making some effort to cut back on their spending. that's true that a lot of workers were pretty close to the edge, even with those jobs, but not everybody. and of course, we haven't had the whole workforce quit. we have had, you know, a few million people who seemed to have made the calculation that it was -- it's worth it to them to pay the monetary cost, and particularly this quitting thing is very concentrated in particular industries so to some extent, people are quitting and looking for jobs that might pay a bit less but is not going to be as unpleasant as what they were doing. i see we have some polling data. yeah, i mean, it's -- look, we have had -- we've known for a long time that america is really hell for ordinary workers. we're a rich country that treats a lot of people who do the work that we all depend on extremely badly. and at some point, people say, look, it's not worth it to me. >> so, isn't this a good thing? >> yes, it's a good thing. no, that's the -- i mean, it's a bit of an inconvenience. you know, if you're a comfortable person like me and you find out that your favorite restaurant hasn't reopened or is offering a more limited selection or limited hours because they're having trouble finding workers, yeah, it's annoying, but whenever i start to get annoyed, i feel like i'm some old elite person saying, you know, complaining about the servant problem. the fact of the matter is that we're looking at millions of americans deciding they can do better for themselves and that's a good thing if they can. >> paul krugman, thank you so much for joining us on this. it's a great piece if you haven't read it. you should. "the new york times." good to see you. all right, a crucial senate vote tuesday on a voting rights bill that was aimed at getting republican moderates on board but will it be for nothing? and what is the democrats' plan b? coming up, illinois congresswoman robin kelly. we'll be right back. inois congresswoman robin kelly. we'll be right back. i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. with relapsing forms of ms... there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. it can all add up. kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection... that may help you put these rms challenges in their place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions, and slowing disability progression vs aubagio. don't take kesimpta if you have hepatitis b, and tell your doctor if you have had it, as it could come back. kesimpta can cause serious side effects, including infections. while no cases of pml were reported in rms clinical trials, it could happen. tell your doctor if you had or plan to have vaccines, or if you are or plan to become pregnant. kesimpta may cause a decrease in some types of antibodies. the most common side effects are upper respiratory tract infection, headache, and injection reactions. ready for an at-home treatment with dramatic results? it's time to ask your doctor about kesimpta. ready for an at-home treatment with dramatic results? ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ (calls dog) buttercup... (whines) ♪♪ ♪ ohh ohh ♪ ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ welcome back. the senate will vote tuesday on a new voting rights bill, despite a seemingly impenetrable republican blockade. this bill is backed by senate majority leader and senator joe manchin. schumer wrote a letter to his colleagues on thursday saying manchin has been reaching across the aisle, quote, on a bipartisan basis to ensure all americans have their voices heard in our democracy. but some are looking at congress's failure to pass voting rights legislation earlier this year and wondering why democrats think they can win this time. congresswoman robin kelly, a democrat from illinois, joins me now to discuss this. congresswoman, thanks for joining us on this. talk to me about the strategy here and bringing this vote up for a vote just by the fact that it's quite obvious senator joe manchin is not going to be able to get ten republican senators on board. >> well, i think we can always hope that he is able to do this, that's what he claims that he can do, so we'll have to wait and see if he's successful. if not, again, we have to look at other measures because this is a good bill and if we aren't able to pass it, then we -- you know, that will, i think, lend to us possibly looking at the minority if we're suppressing people's rights to vote. >> couple things i want to get into. i want to play some sound from james clyburn, he spoke to my colleague, jose diaz, talking about if in fact they can't get the passage of this voting rights bill, they need to change up the filibuster. let's take a listen to that first. >> kind of hope that joe manchin has done what he said he would do and that's bring along ten republicans who will vote to allow the debate to go forward. if he doesn't, we are going to have to get around this filibuster. >> the thing is, i don't know how this is going to happen either because once again, the holdout will be someone like joe manchin, who has said repeatedly and he has said it quite fervently, that he is against amending the filibuster, getting rid of the filibuster, which would need to happen in order to pass voting rights. on party lines. so, what is the solution here, considering how incredibly important voting rights is in this country and we're seeing legislation across the board in states like texas, trying to take away the voting rights of black and brown individuals specifically. >> well, joe manchin is the one that said that he could bring ten republicans along and perhaps when he sees that he can't, even though we're still hopeful, maybe that will change his mind about changing the filibuster. again, if we allow all of these states to suppress votes, take away voting rights, then he'll be in the minority anyway. so, he wants to stay in the majority and be able to wield the power that he does seem to have, then he needs to rethink some of the strategies that he is thinking about. if he's successful with his ten republicans, that's one thing. but if he's not, they're sending him a message also. >> so, you're hopeful basically that joe manchin sees a light if he can't get ten republicans on board, a bill that he, by the way, was part of negotiating, was part of drawing up, that if he can't get those on board, then subsequently maybe he'll come on board with, you know, a legislative carveout when it comes to the filibuster to get voting rights across the finish line. >> that is what i'm hoping. because i don't see any other way. and he, again, if we allow all of these states -- i believe there are 360 bills in 47 states -- to go forward, they won't go forward in all the states, then we will possibly be behind the 8 ball when it comes to keeping the majority in the house and the senate, quite frankly. >> any indication kyrsten sinema will join him on that, if in fact he gets on board with a carveout for a filibuster? >> i have no idea. but i'm hoping that she will see the light also. the ten republicans that say they were going to be on board, whoever senator manchin thought he was going to be able to sway, that she'll see, if she wants to stay the senator, that she will have to come on board herself. >> congresswoman robin kelly, thank you so much. great to see you. coming up, everybody, canceled subscriptions and employee walkouts, why netflix execs say they're standing by dave chappelle and his latest stand-up special that has sparked outrage in the lgbtq community over transphobic remarks. we'll be right back. over transpc remarks. we'll be right back. got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. what do you say we see what this bird can do? woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ tums vs. mozzarella stick when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast heartburn relief in every bite. crunchy outside, chewy inside. ♪ tums, tums, tums, tums ♪ tums chewy bites ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin? 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>> president trump represents so much of why i'm running. >> that's right. glenn young would bring donald trump and betsy devos' education policies to virginia. >> a heated race for a former virginia governor and one growing tighter by the day. a poll finding mcauliffe and glenn young kin running neck and neck. the party losing two straight gubernatorial races and the state house. meanwhile, young kin is focusing his efforts on schools, tapping into unsubstantiated according to "the new york times" his promises to ban race theory, quote, drew some of the loudest applause, even though it's really not a part of virginia classroom teaching. with me to talk about this, msnbc political analyst and republican strategist susan del percio and democratic strategist atima omara. there's the whole trump factor amidst all this, so we know biden took the vote in virginia. young kin got the endorsement from trump. he's not fully embraced donald trump but still trying to embrace donald trump and ends that he can't alienate that suburban voter. talk about the trump factor in this race. >> yasmin, it's actually a lot like 2017 when ed gillespie was running. instead of using critical race theory, he was using confederate statues as a way of triggering the trump base. and that is where -- i'm sorry. that is now where youngkin is in that problem spot because he knows he needs the trump voters to show up, but at the same time he can't win without suburban. and let me just add another thing going back to 2017. voter turn out then was 48%. in 2020, it was 75%. so both sides are trying to identify the people who are coming out because they know it's a depressed turnout. the only good news is this. this time four years ago there were a couple polls that had gillespie up by eight and northam by 17. now northam won the race by nine points. >> so atima, mcauliffe is really trying to tie youngkin and trump together and it doesn't necessarily seem that's energizing democratic voters. seems like he's trying to point his ire at washington democrats. let me read for you from politico. losing ground in a virginia gubernatorial campaign, mcauliffe sought to nationalize the race, calling on congressional action and president joe biden's waning popularity as he try to mount a return to an office he held four years ago. >> it's not inaccurate to be concerned with what's happening in washington at this point. if you're governor mcauliffe, and the rest of the democratic ticket. i don't think he should be too concerned because right now what we're seeing in early voting returns is that democratic performance is actually outperforming republicans by 2 to 1 in early voting. now republican voters are likely going to show up on election day, since they don't believe in vote by mail or early voting anymore thanks to trump. so i think that he's in a good position and really where he should be pivoting for democratic voters and what excites us in virginia, a lot of the changes that have happened in the last three or four years for voting rights, reproductive rights, civil rights in the state, a lot of the statues coming down. that's really energized voters. he has to start talking about his record and that was successful as governor, which is increasing the number of jobs, restoring rights of those who served in prison who lost their voting rights, blocking anti-choice legislation. as long as you keep that up, we should be poised to have a good election day. but obviously what happens on election day is what happens on election day. >> susan del percio, so democrats are the ones in power right now. they need mcauliffe to win for two reasons. this is the first major election during a biden presidency and obviously we are essentially one year out from midterm elections. and the headlines will be referendum on biden. how do they make this happen? >> i do believe it will be seen as a referendum. i think more so now in an previous gubernatorial races, which are always off years in virginia, because virginia has turned so blue. it's no longer even close to a purple state. so it is up to terry mcauliffe to bring it and bring in a strong win because, frankly, this administration needs a win desperately and it may seem that this is the only one they're going to get before december. >> i just quickly want you to weigh in, atima, on this idea of critical race theory and how young kin says it's not going to be a part of the curriculum even though it's not yet a part of the curriculum, but seizeings on that vitriolic hatred speech we've been seeing across the one right now. >> yeah, it's definitely one of these things that the trump -- it's a trump republican playbook thing to get a certain set of white voters concerned about what's happening in schools when in actuality it's not. we know that's a playbook. we know a lot of strategists out the that's the playbook. that's the only thing he's got to really run on. there hasn't been particularly a super hopeful message coming from youngkin and the republican ticket. they're not trying to pivot away and pivot themselves as a different republican party. so yeah, exactly what you see on tv right now. >> atima, thank you. susan del percio, thank you as well. that wraps up the hour for me, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back tomorrow 3:00 p.m. eastern. reverend al sharpton with "politicsnation" starts right now. good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, the honeymoon may be over. african-americans propelled joe biden to the white house, and yet nine months into his presidency enthusiasm is waning. a new poll finds biden approval among african-americans fell from 85% in july to just 67% in september. for those of us in the community, it's not hard to understand why. we all appreciate